Treatment Plant Permit Approved

Resort, Board Reach Accord

July 01, 1989|By MARK FELSENTHAL Staff Writer

In decisions that will affect the water quality of the Rappahannock River, the State Water Control Board approved a permit for the Urbanna sewage treatment plant and reached an agreement with The Tides Inn in Irvington, which had been accused of dumping improperly treated sewage into the river.

The permit for the Urbanna plant, approved during the board's two-day meeting in Virginia Beach this week, allows a waste water disposal pipe to be extended into the middle of Urbanna Creek. Approval of the new placement of the effluent pipe depends on three conditions intended to ease concern about water quality in the creek, according to Keith Fowler, senior environmentalist at the board's Kilmarnock office.

First, the town will have to monitor waste flowing into the creek for additional nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate. Nutrients decrease the level of oxygen in the creek and degrade water quality.

Second, the town will have to monitor water quality at a spot about 150 yards from the discharge spot. Another point about one-half mile upstream will be monitored for comparison, Fowler said.

Finally, Urbanna will have to submit feasibility studies for alternatives to the current discharge site if it wants to expand the sewage treatment facility. This means that the town would be able to gauge the cost of extending the pipe out into the Rappahannock River or to pump effluent into purification ponds on land, Fowler said.

Both approaches were suggested at a May 8 public hearing in the town at which speakers said effluent was at least partially responsible for spoiling the creek and the cove where the pipe is located. Speakers also expressed concern that the pollution in the creek was not closely monitored.

At the public hearing, Fowler and other engineers said the discharge of treated sewage did not harm the quality of the water or of marine life in the creek, which flows along the eastern edge of the picturesque town into the Rappahannock River.

"Our evaluation of the discharge is that the nutrient input to the creek from the treatment plant is going to be non-detectable in any sample," Fowler said Friday. The measurements would be a way of substantiating that and of increasing public confidence in the water board's recommendation, he added.

"As far as the reduction of water quality in Urbanna Creek in general, if there has been a reduction, it's probably due to other things than the treatment plant," Fowler said. He cited acid rain, agricultural chemical runoff and the discharge of holding tanks from boats as other factors polluting the creek.

Across the river in Lancaster County, The Tides Inn agreed to provide further training for its sewage plant operator and design a plan that would bring its sewage discharge into Carter Creek, a tributary of the Rappahannock, within approved norms, a senior enforcement official for the water board said.

The luxury resort hotel has been cited six times in the past year for a total of 21 violations, David Gussman said. Sewage effluent from the resort has not met state environmental standards and some reporting of in formation has been late, he added.

This is the second enforcement action in four months against the hotel. Following a 30-day period for public comment, the hotel will have another month to comply with the board's requirements.

In the event that action by The Tides Inn does not meet state approval, further action would be taken by the attorney general, in which case fines could run as high as $10,000 a day, Gussman said.